The latest addition to the Chick-fil-A menu is here. And this time it’s not a sandwich — it’s a dessert. Yes, the honey pepper pimento chicken sandwich came back to stores Monday, Aug.
26. But that’s old news, and it’s not great news , either. The Georgia-base chain introducing a banana pudding milkshake , though? Now, that has my frozen fast food treat attention.
This isn’t the first time Chick-fil-A has taken the beloved pudding and turned into a milkshake — the banana pudding shake was on the menu 13 years ago. But that’s eons ago in fast food terms. Regardless, it seems like a logical and delicious dessert move.
Chick-fil-A makes incredible milkshakes (the peppermint chip shake during the holidays is especially excellent). And if any chain could nail banana pudding, it’s a southern one like Chick-fil-a, right? A post shared by Snackolator (@snackolator) I was excited for this one. Not Wendy’s creamsicle Frosty excited, mind you, but excited enough to hit Chick-fil-A on opening day to give it a shot.
Perhaps this would be redemption for the lackluster honey pepper pimento chicken sandwich. It was not. In fact, much like that sandwich, the banana pudding milkshake is less than the sum of its parts.
Bananas with vanilla ice cream and vanilla wafer cookie crumbles sounds objectively delicious, but something is off here. As excited as I was for a banana pudding milkshake, I did have my concerns. Anytime I hear about a milkshake with too much going on, I get suspect.
It’s one thing for an ice cream sundae to be outlandish and over-the-top, because you have a spoon at your disposal. But even just some oversized Oreo pieces can derail a cookies and cream milkshake, no matter how big your straw is. And yeah, the straws that come with the banana pudding milkshake aren’t big enough.
It took me several attempts to get my first taste because the shake was so thick and wafer pieces kept getting stuck. When I did finally get a sip, it was overloaded with crunchy cookie crumbles and didn’t taste anything like banana pudding. The beauty of banana pudding is the wafers get soft and almost chewy.
With the wafers mixed into the ice cream right before being served, that doesn’t happen here. The texture is completely off, kind of reminiscent of the grandma McFlurry from McDonald’s . I’m not saying the shake tastes bad, but it doesn’t taste good enough to offset the unfortunate texture.
While Chick-fil-A promises these are fresh bananas, it tastes kind of artificial. And artificial banana flavoring stinks. I love banana pudding, but this absolutely did not scratch the banana pudding itch.
If anything, this made me want to go get some of the actual stuff. I could hike into the city for Magnolia Bakery’s famous take on the dish, but Baonanas in Jersey City makes some dang good banana pudding in its own right. Maybe we never needed to make banana pudding into a milkshake in the first place.
It’s kind of perfect as it is, no? Sorry, Chick-fil-A. I’ll see you around the holidays for your peppermint shake. Related coverage • I tried Taco Bell’s cheesy street chalupa so you don’t have to.
Here’s my review. • I tried McDonald’s Kit Kat banana split McFlurry so you don’t have to. Here’s my review.
• I tried Wendy’s triple berry Frosty so you don’t have to. Here’s my review. • I tried Taco Bell’s Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap Supreme so you don’t have to.
Here’s my review. • I tried McDonald’s grandma McFlurry so you don’t have to. Here’s my review.
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